Global Media Journal – German Edition has just released this special section of essays.
Media studies took off at a time when a certain understanding of the international system achieved hegemonic status. In this intellectual environment, the nation state was seen as the natural collective vehicle for people to ride to a better life. And, global elites assumed that the emerging international order would make war and atrocity crimes less likely.
Today, anyone paying attention to global affairs and domestic politics would find such assumptions naive. Whether one believes that this era is objectively new or just a delayed reaction to what was always a Hobbesian world order, what is clear is that media studies needs to pay more attention to global instability and conflict. This special section is an attempt to stimulate research aligned with this new awareness.
At least three broad themes emerge from the contributions. First, several authors highlight ways in which national identity is fluid, and how its contours are a matter of political contention and media construction, shaped by the powerful. Second, since regional neighbours are the most proximal manifestation of the global, the workings of media networks at the regional level are a fertile area of research on journalism's capacity to escape national boundaries. Third, globalised connections do not necessarily produce global norms. What is in short supply is not a transnational imagination as such, but a cosmopolitan ethos grounded in humanist values.
These essays are shorter (3,000-4,000 words) and more accessible than standard journal articles, so I hope you will consider adopting relevant ones for your courses in International Journalism, Media and Conflict, and so on.
– Cherian George (special section editor)
CONTENTS
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Cherian George
Hong Kong Baptist University School of Communication
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